Regeneration of Al-doped LiNi1/3Co1/3Mn1/3O2 cathode material via a sustainable method from spent Li-ion batteries

Abstract The increase in the use of lithium-ion batteries has led to a rapid increase in the number of used Li-ion batteries. If these used lithium-ion batteries are not handled properly, they will result in environmental pollution and waste of valuable metal resources. In this study, spent lithium cobalt oxide electrode sheets were directly leached using d , l -malic acid and H2O2, and LiNi1/3-xCo1/3Mn1/ 3AlxO2 (x = 0.02, 0.04) was resynthesized by sol-gel method. Results show that the prepared materials exhibit typical layered structure, and the doping of Al3+ has a certain effect on inhibiting the mixing of cations. The synthesized LiNi1/3-0.04Co1/3Mn1/3Al0.04O2 maintains an excellent reversible discharge capacity of 148.1 mAhg−1 at a current density of 0.2 C after 100 cycles, which is higher than that of LiNi1/3Co1/3Mn1/3O2. The good performance of the regenerated positive electrode material indicates that the simple recovery and recycling process is feasible.